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The Squad Is Not the Answer [1]

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Date: 2025-01-12

We’re in a period where Democrats, having lost another presidential election to not only the Republicans but to the most unfit, corrupt, and incompetent candidate in history, are in second-guessing mode.

This, of course, includes finger-pointing, blaming, and whining mixed in with honest analysis. This can be good unless they overthink things, which you can be pretty much assured they will.

You can listen to some really smart people on MSNBC talking about the state of our country and its politics. They give scholarly, well-thought-out points. That’s fine, but I hope we’ve come to understand that scholarly, well-thought-out points usually aren’t going to get you far with a lot of people in this country.

Those smart folks are in some ways just talking to themselves.

One feature of a Democratic defeat is the Progressive wing of the party calling for it to move further to the left. I’m seeing some stuff on Facebook from the Squad that looks like it’s trying to position itself in the wake of the latest GOP victory.

As much as I think the Squad is great, that would be a mistake.

Four-time indicted, twice impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, insurrectionist inspirer, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon Donald Trump has been elected president twice. Once through the undemocratic Electoral College and more recently with a plurality of the vote. Both times he beat far more qualified women.

I’m an independent and former Democrat, but I join Democrats in wondering how does this happen? How did a convicted felon who started a violent attack on the Capitol to overthrow an election he lost end up winning again?

It’s obvious, Democrats are putting up losing candidates based on where this country is at this time in history. We need to look at reality right now, not what we’d like it to be. I disagree with anyone who thinks that voting for Trump was a good idea, but their votes count, too.

That’s why the Squad is not the answer. Progressive left-wing politics include some good ideas, and some ideas and positions that turn people off. In fairness, this is often caused by the constant lying by Republicans that label Democrats as leftists, Marxists, or socialists. It’s not true, but it’s effective. That’s what they did to Kamala Harris over and over again.

We’re not a leftist country. We’re a center-right country so unless Democrats can at least get to center-left they’re going to have problems.

Progressives aren’t even the majority in their own party let alone the country. If they were, Bernie Sanders would have been the nominee in 2016, and Joe Biden wouldn’t have wiped the floor with multiple members of their wing in 2020.

To win in 2028 they’ll need a strong -- probably a man -- candidate who’s not far-left, who center-right voters can see understands their concerns. That doesn’t mean he agrees with some of their positions or he abandons progressive ideas, but he can lay out his position in a way that reasonable people will at least see his point and not hold it against him that much.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is great but his record will work against him. They’ll crucify him, lie about him, and portray him as a San Francisco liberal. Trump has already been degrading him. That process has already started.

Someone like former senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio is closer to what the Democrats need, even though he couldn’t beat an inferior candidate in his very Republican state.

A young dynamic new face would be fine as long as he isn’t seen as far-left, that the center-right can relate to him and his positions. My state’s governor Josh Shapiro comes to mind, along with Kentucky Governor Andy Breshear.

A lot of Democrats are going to be offended by my take on the Squad. That’s fine. In the end the party as a whole will select its candidate. Hopefully it will then galvanize behind him or her.

The guess here is that after four years of Trump the Democrats will have a lot to hang on whoever the GOP chooses to try to be his successor. Democrats need to be more concerned about who their choice is than what’s going on with the other side. The same goes for two years from now when midterm elections will give them their first chance to crack the GOP stranglehold on Congress and the White House.

President Franklin Roosevelt was as left as they come when it comes to programs he established. He had to do this because of the terrible shape our country was in during the Great Depression. That was a time when left-wing policies were needed.

Maybe if things are bad enough four years from now a very Progressive candidate may be appealing for the same reason. That would probably mean we’d find ourselves in another Republican-caused economic crisis. But it would still be a tough road.

Hopefully Democrats will properly read the country when that time comes and will see what our nation needs and what will appeal to the voters it needs to retake the White House.

Finding the right person for that time in history is the only answer. That’s because the only thing that matters is winning. That should supersede political disagreements and posturing.

If it’s doesn’t, we may be looking at President J.D. Vance.

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Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page.

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